AJAIB, BHAI, a Sangha Jatt who embraced the Sikh faith in the time of Guru Arjan. He belonged to the village of Darauli Bhai, in presentday Faridkot district. Two of his brothers, Umar Shah and Ajab, were the Guru`s masands or vicars. Bhai Ajaib took part in seva, voluntary labour of hands, at the time of digging of the Amritsar pool and construction of the Harimandar. See AJAB, BHAI
BUNGAS The word bunga is derived from the Persian bungah meaning a hospice, or a dwelling place. In the Sikh tradition, the word specifically refers to the dwelling places and mansions which grew up around the Harimandar at Amritsar and at other centres of Sikh pilgrimage. These were primarily the houses built by the conquering sardars and chiefs in Sikh times or by Sikh school men and sectaries. Amritsar housed the largest complex of such buildings.
DES RAJ. BHAI, a Khatri Sikh of Amritsar, was entrusted with the supervision of the reconstruction of the Harimandar during the sixties and seventies of the eighteenth century. Nothing is known about his early life or family except that he originally came from Sursingh village, 30 km southwest of Amritsar, from where he migrated to the town and flourished in business, with a reputation for honesty and truthfulness. When the Sikhs sacked Sirhind in January 1764 and allocated several hundred thousands rupees from the plunder for the restoration of Sri Harimandar Sahib at Amritsar, demolished by Ahmad Shah Durrani two years earlier, they assigned Bhai Des Raj to undertake the reconstruction.
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